5,000 Flee Ft. Apache Fire

July 15, 2003
Judd Slivka, Mark Shaffer and Paul Matthews
The Arizona Republic

WHITERIVER - Thousands of residents of the Fort Apache Reservation were evacuated Monday when the "Kinishba" fire roared through the hills north of Whiteriver.

Lightning sparked the 5,800-acre fire near Whiteriver, about 20 miles southeast of Pinetop-Lakeside.

More than 5,000 White Mountain Apache Tribe residents from Whiteriver, Fort Apache and surrounding communities fled when the fire began to belch thick, black smoke and roar through scrub and stands of piñon and juniper. No buildings had burned as of late Monday.

Firefighters made progress through the morning and early afternoon, burning fuels in front of the blaze in an effort to stem its progress. But shortly after noon, a thunderstorm cell moved over the fire, and 35 mph winds chased firefighters off of fire lines and blew the fire out of control to the north. Throughout the afternoon, the skies over Whiteriver were filled with increasingly dense smoke and ash.

"I'm just simply not believing this," Ronnie Skidmore said as he watched 50-foot-high flames rapidly move down a hillside near Rainbow City north of Whiteriver.

Skidmore said he had only 30 minutes' notice to get out. He managed to get his two horses and one bale of hay into his livestock trailer and toss a few personal items into the back of his pickup.

Apache police officers ran from car to car telling motorists that once they left they wouldn't be allowed back in for the foreseeable future.

North of Whiteriver, nearly 800 people in the Cradleboard and Jurassic Park communities were ordered to evacuate shortly after 1 p.m. Monday.

Kathy Eagle said she was given less than an hour's notice to leave her home in the Alchesay Flat area. She pointed to a century-old antique dresser and a box of antique jewelry in a small cabinet, handed down from her grandmother.

"That's all I was able to get together," she said, saying she was waiting at the side of the highway for her son to return from shutting off propane and electricity at her home.

The Cradleboard community cleared out fast after the evacuation order. Within an hour, most residences were marked with white towels, indicating the occupants had left.

Chadeen Palmer, a member of the team managing the fire, said fire managers will request a National Guard unit to provide security in the evacuated areas.

More than 700 evacuees were staying in six shelters Monday night and hundreds more were camping out or staying with relatives, said Collette Altaha, assistant emergency response coordinator for the White Mountain Apache Tribe.

The Cromwell and Lee families of Rainbow City gathered in three tents on the central grounds of old Fort Apache.
"That fire jumped down to within a half mile of our property just like that," Eric said. "We were lucky to get all this together in time to get out of there."

Mary Jane Clendon and her granddaughter, 10-year-old Jaime Rustin, had about a half-hour to evacuate their home in Rainbow City. They took a Pendleton blanket and nabbed a spot near an electrical outlet at a shelter at Seven Mile School, where they read and listened to music.

As the fire marched north Sunday night, officials warned the Whiteriver Indian Hospital north of Whiteriver that it might have to evacuate. It finally gave the order Monday afternoon.

Thirty minuets later, a string of helicopters began landing at the hospital, ferrying 10 patients to the Phoenix Indian Medical Center in Phoenix. Other patients were diverted to area hospitals or discharged.

"We've got patients with complications from diabetes, patients with certain infections," said Dr. David Yost, the hospital's clinical director. "But they're all stable enough to be moved in the one- to two-hour space we have here."
Yost said medical appointments have been canceled, but the hospital's emergency room will remain open until ordered to close.

Like last year's "Rodeo-Chediski" fire, the "Kinishba" (pronounced kih-NEESH'-buh) fire was dominated by its own plume.

The fire sent its own energy into the atmosphere until the plume could no longer support its own weight, and then it collapsed on itself. That sent a rush of oxygen into the fire, showering embers that started other fires.

"It's like it's just gone crazy," one Fort Apache firefighter said over his radio. "There are spots all over this road."

Pinetop-Lakeside, a tourist town of 3,500 that includes mobile homes and multimillion-dollar houses, remained in front of the fire late Monday. The fire was two or three miles short of Round Top Road, several miles south of Pinetop-Lakeside.

If it reaches that point, Pinetop-Lakeside, Hon Dah and McNary probably would be evacuated.

More than 400 firefighters were assigned to the blaze as of Monday night.

A separate elite fire management team was assigned to Pinetop-Lakeside, where survival may come down to what is stronger: fire or fire breaks.

"I was looking at the map and the area between the fire and Pinetop-Lakeside has had a lot of fuel treatment," said Larry Humphrey, commander of the incident management team running the fire.

"There has been a lot of thinning, a lot of prescribed burning and logging up there. It's a lot better situation than last year."

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